Joan O’Flynn remembers and reflects

Joan O’Flynn, Celbridge Camogie/GAA and National President, Camogie Association reflects on her primary school days and how she can't imagine life without the opportunities they presented her.

"When I was attending primary school in Ladysbridge National School in East Cork, a new school was built in our parish when I was in sixth class. It amalgamated three small schools into one new modern school. We moved to a school that had six classrooms instead of two. I moved from a classroom with one teacher and four classes, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th class, to a classroom where the teacher had all 6th class. We had central heating instead of an open fire, indoor toilets instead of outdoor ones and had a huge big playing field and a basketball court instead of a small school yard.

You're probably saying this must have been a 100years ago but it wasn’t - it was in the 1970s. The good thing was that improving the conditions of our school was providing us with warm and spacious facilities plus recreational space meant that our opportunity to grow and learn also improved. We were lucky as many children around the world still don’t enjoy that opportunity.

I can’t imagine what my life would have been like without the opportunity to meet and mix with and learn with children from different backgrounds and experiences. I got these opportunities mostly through school.

I can’t imagine what my life would have been like without the ability to think, read, write, analyze, question, dream and imagine. I learned these at school.

I can’t imagine what my life would have been like without the fun, the play, the laughs, the cries and the friendships from those school days.

These are all life long skills, gifts and memories. 2015 is only five years away. Working to promote awareness of the Second Millennium Goal and attaining it is both urgent and important so that every child, no matter where they live, has the opportunity to learn, to grow and to reach their full potential."